Flick Picks 7: Gulity Pleasure #1

First off, sorry for the lateness of my posting. I have been very sick recently, lots of nasty stuff you don't want know about coming out of me. Now that I have that particular mental image in your head(you welcome), it's time for a new Flick Picks, and a special one at that. This is the first Guilty Pleasure edition, and I've hit on a doozy. First, it's a cult classic, enjoyed the world over as a prime example of Roger Corman's work, being filled with cheese, blood, cheese, boobs, cheese, bad make-up, oh, and cheese. By that token, it is also a favorite of mine, which, over the years and with plenty of repeat viewings, have noticed it's evident flaws, including bad sound sync issues, terrible editing, bad effects, and obvious cost cutting set work, using abandoned buildings and matte paintings in place of something substantial. I'm talking of 1975's Death Race 2000. SPOILERS!!! Oh, and for the first time, PICTURES!
This film is plenty weird and offbeat, with action, blood, messy effects, and lovely 70s synth music. Very crappy 70s synth music. Seriously, it assaults your ears like a rabid daschund tearing into a badger den. Your ears will bleed. Profusely. And that's not as bad as the plot, or dialogue. The plot is a simple mess, making NASCAR the national sport, but only 5 racers per race, they get a concubine/navigator that rides with them, they race from coast to coast, and part of the race is scored by how many innocent pedestrians they can kill with their cars along the route. The scoring system is pretty basic, with the base being a male aged 21-40. From there are bonuses(from lowest to highest) based on being female, teenaged, toddler, elderly, pregnant female, pregnant teenager(because the child gets bonus points too). Here's an example from the film:

This is beyond dumb. First, we have to believe that among all the myriad sports, the entire population of America will get behind racing. Not saying that racing is bad, but what happened to football, soccer, hockey, basketball? Then, you get to combine the one believable bit of the setting(a global economy collapse), with the other crap(the entire telephone system is down, but we still have TV?), and you get a rather muddy mess. I still wonder how a script so evidently flawed got filmed. Then there are the good bits of tounge-in-cheek satire the script has for us, mainly coming from the fact that the ruling party of America is a religious one, with "Mr. President" being presented as a messiah figure:


I seriously get a 'worship me' vibe from this guy. Not a lot of screen time, but he's more of a plot and story impetus than a character here. The satire thing goes pretty far, and then some, with the media personalities covering the race, the most unapologetically bloodthirsty being Junior Bruce, played here by Don Steele, whom most of might remember as the the voice of 'Rockin' Ricky Rialto from Speilberg's 1984 Christmas gem Gremlins.

In case you were wondering what that voice looked like. The media personalities, Junior Bruce, and one other, a Grace Pander, are one-dimensional at best, Junior being bloodlust and violence happy, Grace being sycophantic, almost parasitic, in her attempts to remain the focus of attention. she was played by now dead actress Joyce Jameson, whose best picture came from an obituary article:

It's a shame, really, because I think her character really gets the point across about the decadence and evils inherent in the society of the future-past year 2000 alot better than any other, despite her small screen time. After this film, she guest starred on about every single TV show there was between the air date of the film, 1975, and her apparent(unconfirmed) retirement in 1984. She died three years later. The drivers, and their cars, are a lovely cheesy mix of 70s excess and the MTV show Pimp My Ride. Each of the five follow a specific theme, with a one-dimensional personality trait to match. There is Nero 'The Hero' who is narcissistic, and that's it. His car is made to look like a lion, oh he's played by Martin Kove. You know, Cobra Kai?
Then there's Matilda the Hun, the resident Nazi, 'Calamity Jane' Kelly, you guessed it, a cowgirl, 'Machine Gun' Joe Viturbo, a angry pinstriped mafioso, and Frakenstein, a monster of flesh and plastic and metal, with a personality to match. The two women racer are both prideful, and that's really the only thing they show. Joe is angry, and that's really all he shows. Frakenstein is obsessed with winning the race, and regardless of personal character revelations, that never changes. No real depth here, folks, move along.

Here's some examples of Matilda, plus her navigator:










And of Jane:








And of Joe. Did I mention he's played by Sylvester Stallone? I didn't? Well, he is, and another example of dumb carried into the costume. Who covers their helmet in pinstriped fabric?







And Frankenstein, here in all of his parachute gimp suit glory. Seriously, there are some deep seated issues here that need to be addressed by a professional. It should also be noted that Frankenstein is played by David 'Kung Fu' Carradine. This character is also probably the closest I've seen on film to his recent performance of Bill, of Kill Bill fame. The two characters, while, very different (one obsessed with the greater good, one obsessed with himself), both are marked with an unwavering determination to see there plans through, even if it kills them. Now, this is a 70s film, so there are a lot of breasts in this movie, and there is blood, if you count the comically lame, even by 70s standards, blood and injury effects. Their are some major editing issues as well, as there are points where it is obvious a stunt double is being used, some pretty obvious continuity errors, and some issues with sound sync in the race shots. But now we come to the major point of all this: I. Don't. Care. I love this film, I revel in it's 70s cheese, and while I HATE the music, I tolerate it for the sake of one of my favorite movies, hands down. This film, while quite flawed, has a great message about the coverage of violence in the media, and the part that such violence plays in our lives. Not to say that violence isn't necessary, if I didn't have my violent games and movies, I would be a very sad individual. But it does place an emphasis on how focusing on, and glorifying, any kind of violence, isn't the right route either. And on that note, I would say, if you like 70s cinema, if you like Roger Corman films, if you like cheesy dialogue wrapped in cheesy costumes and plot points, and peppered with synth music, then check out Death Race 2000. You won't regret it.